Noric language

The Noric or Eastern Celtic language was likely an unclassified Continental Celtic language. Its existence is inferred from only two fragmentary inscriptions from the area of the former Roman province of Noricum (one in Grafenstein, Carinthia, Austria, the other in Ptuj, Slovenia). These do not provide enough information to draw conclusions about the language. Nonetheless, it is assumed to have been similar to other Celtic languages near to it, such as Gaulish. No evidence yet shows when it became extinct.

Noric
The Grafenstein inscription
Native to	Austria, Slovenia
Ethnicity	Taurisci
Era	attested 2nd century AD
Language family	Indo-European Celtic Nuclear Celtic Noric
Writing system	Old Italic
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nrc
Linguist List	nrc
Glottolog	nori1240

Ptuj inscription

ARTEBUDZBROGDUI (a facsimile of the original inscription, written right to left)

The Ptuj inscription, discovered in 1894, is written right to left in a northern Italic alphabet^[1] and reads:

𐌀𐌓𐌕𐌄𐌁𐌖𐌈𐌆𐌁𐌓𐌏𐌙𐌈𐌖𐌉

ARTEBUDZBROGDUI

This is interpreted as two personal names: Artebudz [son] of Brogduos.^[2] The name Artebudz may mean "bear penis"^[3] (compare Welsh arth "bear" and Irish bod "penis"), while Brogduos may contain the element brog-, mrog- "country"^[4] (compare Welsh bro "region, country"). Alternatively, the inscription may be interpreted as Artebudz [made this] for Brogdos, with the second name in the dative case.^[5]

Grafenstein inscription

The Grafenstein inscription, on a tile from the 2nd century AD that was discovered in a gravel pit in 1977, is incomplete, but the extant part has been transcribed as follows:^[1]

MOGE · ES[

P· II- LAV · EX[
ṆE · SAḌỊÍES[
OLLO · SO · VILO[
ỌNẠ C[…]

OLLO · SO · ? [

P LṾGNṾ · SI

Here, Moge seems to be a personal name or an abbreviation of one, P· II- lav a Latin abbreviation indicating a weight, ne sadiíes a verbal form possibly meaning "you (singular) do not set", ollo so perhaps "this amount", and Lugnu another personal name. The text may therefore be a record of some sort of financial transaction.^[1]

Other readings of the inscription have also been proposed, including:

MOGE · ES+[---]

PET(?) LAV · EX[---]
NE · SAMES[---]
OLLO · SO · VILO ·[---]
ONA O(?) + ++

OLLO · SO ·+

+ LVGNI · SI

^[6]

and

MOGV · CISS [---

PETILAV · IEX[---
NE · SADIIES[---
OLLO · SO · VILO ·[---
ONA DOM...OC[

OLLO · SO · VIA .[

ILVGNV.SI[

^[7]